US troops at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait (File)

EA on LBC and DW News: Trump’s Indecision on Iran Deal

UPDATES: US-Israel Wars, Day 94 — Uncertainty Over US-Iran Framework Deal as Israel Expands Attacks on Southern Lebanon

UPDATE 0846 GMT:

US officials say Central Command has guided around 70 commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz over the last three weeks.

Most of the vessels had turned off their transponders to avoid detection. The officials declined to say what types had transited and what route they took.

Before the war, well over 100 commercial ships a day passed through the Strait. Around 1,500 vessels have been trapped during the US-Israel War.

UPDATE 0801 GMT:

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei has criticized the Trump Administration for jeopardizing talks to end the US-Israel War:

Negotiations have started amid severe suspicion and mistrust, and the exchange of messages is taking place in this atmosphere.

The other party is constantly changing its views and putting forward new or contradictory demands….It is natural that this situation will prolong negotiations.

He repeated, contrary to the Trump Administration’s claims, “No negotiations have taken place on the details of the nuclear file.”

Referring to American strikes on military sites in southern Iran overnight, Baghaei said “US aggressive action” is a violation of the ceasefire, with Iran targeting positions in Kuwait from which the attack originated. He said Tehran will “take whatever measures we deem necessary to defend Iran’s national security”.

UPDATE 0744 GMT:

The Netanyahu Government has ordered Israeli strikes on the Dahiyeh suburb, south of Lebanon’s capital Beirut.

Dahiyeh is Hezbollah’s political and administrative center in the country.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz cited Hezbollah’s rocket fire on northern Israel as justification for the strikes.

Civilians fleeing Dahiyeh:

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said, “We insist that a ceasefire in Lebanon is an essential condition for any deal aimed at ending the war.”

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Iran has fired on an airbase used by the US after the American military struck Iranian military sites over the weekend.

US Central Command said its attacks on Iran’s southern coast were in response to “aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a US MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters”.

American warplanes “responded by eliminating Iranian air defences, a ground control station and two one-way attack drones”, CENTCOM posted.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that they targeted an airbase without identifying its location. Air defenses in Kuwait intercepted missile and drone attacks as sirens sounded.

Six American soldiers were killed by an Iranian attack on the Camp Arifjan base in Kuwait on March 1, two days after the start of the US-Israel War.

Lebanon President: We Face “Vicious Israeli Aggression”

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has said the country faces “a vicious and reprehensible Israeli aggression”, as Israel expands its ground and air attacks and occupation across southern Lebanon.

Over the weekend, Israel seized the medieval Beaufort Castle, near the city of Nabatieh. The Israelis occupied the strategic site from 1982 to 2000.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the expansion of attacks, as the toll in Lebanon rose to 3,412 people killed and 10,269 wounded since March 2.

The capture of Beaufort is a dramatic stage and a dramatic shift in the policy we are leading….We are taking the initiative, we are operating on all fronts – in Syria, in Gaza, in Lebanon.

At France’s request, the UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday.

Overnight, an Israeli soldier was killed and three wounded by an Hezbollah drone attack on the town of Yohmor, near the Beaufort Castle.